Canon PowerShot S100 is the successor of the Canon PowerShot S95 that I have had for a year. Canon put in a whole new set of system from the lens to image sensor and processor. Even through these two cameras still look similar, they are actually quite different on the spec sheet. The new Canon PowerShot S100 appears to be a much improved camera compared to the Canon PowerShot S95.

In video shooting mode, the new S100 can record 1080P@24fps instead of the 720P@24fps with the S95. It also allows optical zoom during video recording unlike the S95, which can only have that functionality via the CHDK route.

The Canon PowerShot S100 looked interesting enough that I seriously started looking into it then I saw this long thread over at DPReview about the severe flickering problem under some lighting conditions. Many found it under fluorescent light but some claimed that it can happen under other lighting condition as well. Flickering under fluorescent light is actually a well known problem with CMOS image sensors. You can read a good summary of common video artifacts and how CCD and CMOS can have their own set of unique artifacts.

One guy seems to have found a work-around by doing both of the following:

Set White Balance to “flourescent”

Set exposure manually

In the video demo below, the settings change does seem to fix the problem.

If the rumbling becomes loud enough, Canon may come out with a firmware to fix the problem. At the same time, the reviews at Amazon of the Canon PowerShot S100 seems to be mixed. Perhaps the best choice is to wait and see.